Stem Cells, Cell Therapies, and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Disease 2019

Abstract

A workshop entitled "Stem Cells, Cell Therapies and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Diseases" was hosted by the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine in collaboration with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Alpha-1 Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. The event was held from July 15 to 18, 2019 at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. The objectives of the conference were to review and discuss the current status of the following active areas of research: 1) technological advancements in the analysis and visualisation of lung stem and progenitor cells; 2) evaluation of lung stem and progenitor cells in the context of their interactions with the niche; 3) progress toward the application and delivery of stem and progenitor cells for the treatment of lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis; 4) progress in induced pluripotent stem cell models and application for disease modelling; and 5) the emerging roles of cell therapy and extracellular vesicles in immunomodulation of the lung. This selection of topics represents some of the most dynamic research areas in which incredible progress continues to be made. The workshop also included active discussion on the regulation and commercialisation of regenerative medicine products and concluded with an open discussion to set priorities and recommendations for future research directions in basic and translation lung biology.

FIGURE 1

Scientific advances and application of innovative and new technologies and techniques in human lung regeneration. The Stem Cells, Cell Therapies and Bioengineering in Lung Biology and Diseases 2019 conference was the eighth in a series of biennial conferences focusing on advances in biotechnology and bioengineering, endogenous lung stem/progenitor cells and cell-based therapies, increasing our knowledge of lung stem cell populations, and edging closer to addressing the barriers toward making cell therapy feasible in the epithelial and vascular compartments of the lung. Significant advances since the last conference in 2017, are summarised in table 1. MSC: mesenchymal stromal cell; scRNA-seq: single-cell ribonucleic acid sequencing; 3D: three-dimensional; PCLS: precision-cut lung slice.

FIGURE 2

Summarised responses to survey questions addressing key theme areas of the conference. Key themes included were advances in biotechnology and bioengineering (a), endogenous lung progenitor cells (b), cell-based therapies (c) and commercialisation (d). scRNA-seq: single-cell ribonucleic acid sequencing; PCLS: precision-cut lung slice; MSC: mesenchymal stromal cell; EPC: epithelial progenitor cell; iPSC: induced pluripotent stem cell.